Indian Evidence Act, 1872 · Chapter V: Of Documentary Evidence · Presumptions as to documents
Section 86: Presumption as to certified copies of foreign judicial records
The Indian Evidence Act, 1872 was repealed and replaced by the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 from 1 July 2024. It still applies to matters and proceedings from before that date, as the repealing law provides.
In plain words
The court may presume that a document purporting to be a certified copy of a judicial record of a foreign country is genuine and accurate, if it is certified in a manner that a Central Government representative there certifies is commonly used in that country.
A simplified explanation, prepared with AI assistance from the official text below and checked automatically against it for numbers and cross-references. The official text is the law and prevails over this summary. Not legal advice.
Official text
86. Presumption as to certified copies of foreign judicial records. The Court may presume that any document purporting to be a certified copy of any judicial record of [* * * any country not forming part of India or] of Her Majesty’s Dominions is genuine and accurate, if the document purports to be certified in any manner which is certified by any representative of * * * the [Central Government] [in or for] [such country] to be the manner commonly in use in [that country] for the certification of copies of judicial records. [An officer who, with respect to *** any territory or place not forming part of [India or] Her Majesty’s Dominions, is a Political Agent there for, as defined in section 3, [clause (43)], of the General
Clauses Act, 1897 (10 of 1897), shall, for the purposes of this section, be deemed to be a representative of the [Central Government] [in and for the country] comprising that territory or place.]
Corresponding sections were matched by comparing the wording of both official texts, and for the IPC and BNS, also against a published correspondence table. Wording, punishments and structure often changed, so read both sections before relying on the match.
Source: India Code (Legislative Department), the text of the Act as it stood before its repeal. Words in square brackets [ ] were inserted or substituted by later amending Acts, and *** marks words omitted by an amendment. The amendment footnotes are not reproduced here.